inclisaran

[Cat121]

I have been offered this medication by injection to lower my cholesterol. Does anyone else have this. Apparently it is given twice a year and reportedly halves cholesterol readings.

[Tabac]

It targets your LDL Cholesterol levels and is supposed to halve it. You have your second injection 3 months after the first, then every 6 months. I'm also taking Ezetimibe.

I've just had my 4th injection and may or may not continue depending on my LDL levels in my next blood test in a few weeks time. Before the first injection my LDL was 3.2 it went down to 2.2 after the first injection then 1.6 after the second injection but has since gone back up to 2.3. If it goes back up further I'll probably stop the injections as not much point in continuing.

Around 7-10 days after each injection I've had back ache for a couple of weeks, mild shin splints and get cold like symptoms for a couple of days. If you look on UK websites they don't list known side effects other than the injection site soreness which I haven't had.

[Cat121 in reply to Tabac]

Thank you for your reply, it seems that not many people are having the injection. My ldl is 3 atm but my GP says the guidelines are now 2,6. I’m just concerned because I had many statins before I found a suitable one. If one doesn’t agree with you this can be stopped, but what happens when you have the injection this stays with you for 3 months. I’m still undecided.

[Tabac in reply to Cat121]

There seems to be a push to get people on it this year. The target if you qualify is below 1.8 according to my lipid clinic. I had the lipid clinic ring me up out of the blue and the doctor said he was going through the patient list to see who was suitable for it and I could have the injection at my local hospital if I wanted to. As I was already prescribed at my GP the call was a bit irrelevant but it did give me the chance to query the LDL increase and he suggested a fasting test instead of non fasting which my last two tests have been as the bloods were taken in the afternoon. My overall cholesterol has mirrored the LDL fall and rise, started at 5.5 down to 3.9 back to 4.4.

I was very wary of side effects due to the time scales but the side effects I get only last a couple of weeks. But if the drug isn't effective any more for me there is no point in having backache for four weeks each year. I had all sorts of problems with statins and haven't taken them for years. I wouldn't suggest not having the injections even if problems previously with statins. I'm due some bloods at the end of February to see what the latest injection's effect has been and also some extra liver blood tests; as my liver serum ALT was slightly high last time to see if related to Inclisiran. I'll do a post then regarding the outcome.

A couple of links relating to Inclisiran which are a bit negative but worth a read regarding the background to the drug.

pharmaceutical-journal.com/...

nbmedical.com/blog/inclisir...

[Lowerfield_no_more in reply to Tabac]

NICE guidance on Inclisiran treatment is here

nice.org.uk/guidance/ta733/...

And repeated here, which notes there are different qualifying criteria for Scotland and Wales vs. England.

heartuk.org.uk/getting-trea...

In England the LDL threshold is 2.6mmol/l as indicated by the GP dealing with   Cat121 .

In my personal experience of investigating Inclisiran for myself (albeit 18months ago), since I thought I qualified, I found a resistance to this at the time reflected in the number of hoops you have to jump to get it, let alone the GP surgery who claimed not to be trained, although they should have been. Plus it is high cost relative to other treatments.

[Tabac]

My mistake, I didn't clarify that the 1.8 target is for people who have previously had heart problems. The 2.6 target is for people who are at risk.

To qualify for Inclisiran you would normally have had previous cardiac events looking at the NICE recommendations.

nice.org.uk/guidance/ta733/...

[Qualipop in reply to Tabac]

My records say LDL should be below 1.9. Mine's 1.6 thank goodness.